


Tested Faith

by devilinthedetails



Category: PIERCE Tamora - Works, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Distrust, Doubt, Gen, Loyalty, Rivalry, Tested Faith, Trust, faith - Freeform, test of loyalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-03-10 05:03:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18931807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilinthedetails/pseuds/devilinthedetails
Summary: The Scanran War tests the faith of Kel and Zahir. Set after Lady Knight.





	Tested Faith

Tested Faith

Kel fixed her gaze on the knight who would be replacing Merric in directing New Hope’s patrols. Merric had been reassigned to Northwatch to serve under General Vanget in the same swap that had brought Zahir ibn Alhaz under her command. It was a typical military shuffle–one that shouldn’t have left her rattled–but it felt her feeling oddly adrift to lose one of her staunchest if prickly allies for a knight who had once bullied her as a page. She had to put the past behind her and focus on the present–on her and Sir Zahir’s need to unite in service to the realm–but unfortunately she found her present with Sir Zahir just as questionable as her past. 

Neal had buzzed about her ear like a pesky fly when the letter from General Vanget announcing Sir Zahir’s imminent arrival at New Hope had been delivered, speculating that Sir Zahir had been suggested by the king himself to serve under her. Sir Zahir, she knew, had served as the king’s squire and as one of the knights assigned to Prince Roald’s protection when the prince was stationed at Northwatch. That meant, she understood, the king had complete confidence in him and his abilities. If he had been sent here, she was certain that it must be to spy on her because the king didn’t have the same faith in her as he did Sir Zahir. 

She wanted to be offended by that as she had been by his decision to allow her to be put on probation, but she found that she couldn’t blame the king for mistrusting her after her unauthorized expedition to Scanra. When she had abandoned Tortall for Scanra, she had known there would be resounding consequences for her actions, and she had chosen to accept them as the price for saving her people. She was just blessed by all the gods that the consequences hadn’t included being executed as a traitor. She must bear the king’s distrust with patient, pleasant forbearance, which meant not harboring a vendetta against his spy in her midst. 

“Welcome, Sir Zahir.” She stared at him across her desk, forcing him to see that she wouldn’t be intimidated by his hauteur in her own office. “We trust that your talents will be useful to us in New Hope. We hear you were recommended by the king himself for this position.” 

“I follow His Majesty’s orders and go where he commands me.” The slight sneer on Sir Zahir’s lips conveyed his unspoken insult: “Unlike you.” 

“Your first loyalty is to His Majesty then.” She strived for the cool calm of an undisturbed lake. “You would do whatever he commanded even if you felt it was wrong.” 

“That is what duty demands.” Sir Zahir’s sneer was no longer slight. “We can’t all defy orders in the name of what we believe to be right. We might lose our heads if we did.” 

Obviously Sir Zahir had heard whispers about her mission to Scanra being an unsanctioned one that could have been called treason if Lord Wyldon hadn’t been willing to lie for her–to pretend he had commanded her and her companions to undertake the covert operation to rescue her people and defeat Blayce. Lord Wyldon had lied for her, but that didn’t mean many on the front–including the ever skeptical Sir Zahir–would have to take his word for it even if Lord Wyldon had never before been known as a liar. 

“That is why the king has assigned you here to keep any eye on me.” Kel spoke softly as a knife gliding along flesh, never digging in to draw blood but perpetually promising the threat of doing so. 

“You think I was sent here to spy on you?” Sir Zahir arched an eyebrow, and Kel remembered that since page training he had been an enigma masked by bluntness. “You believe His Majesty doubts your loyalty?” 

“The king must test the faith of all he commands.” Kel kept her face blank as a rock and her tone expressionless as uncarved stone. “How else is he to learn who is loyal to him?” 

“His Majesty didn’t send me here to test your loyalty.” Sir Zahir snorted, no longer bothering to mask his derision. “He sent me here to test my loyalty–to see if I would accept your command on his orders.” 

“Will you?” It was Kel’s turn to lift an inquisitive eyebrow. 

“I would accept the command of an ugly sow if His Majesty commanded it.” Sir Zahir’s lips were thin and cutting as a blade, and Kel wondered if he was alluding to her as the ugly sow or if he regarded her as an even more contemptible creature than that. “As you said, I will do anything His Majesty orders, no matter how distasteful I find it.” 

“Then I trust we won’t have any problems while you’re under my command, Sir Zahir.” Kel used his title to deliberately return the conversation to the formal. He might not be loyal to her, but he would be faithful in his service to the king and to the realm. That was all she could expect from anyone under her authority. “I know you wouldn’t want to disappoint the king or give him cause to doubt his faith in you.”

“I would never disappoint His Majesty’s faith in me.” Sir Zahir rose from his chair, hand drifting down to clench his sword hilt. “With your permission, I will ride out on my first patrol and begin removing the gold from the dross in the soldiers here.” 

An implication there that Merric had been negligent in leading New Hope’s security, but Kel wouldn’t rise to the bait. If Sir Zahir worked hard under her command, she would allow his wounded pride the salve of snide remarks without granting him the satisfaction of seeming offended. 

“Granted.” She waved her palm in an assent that made it clear her attention had shifted to the consideration of more important issues as he bowed jerkily and departed her office.


End file.
